Daytrading November 13 afternoon

Thanks Brit and morning crew.


Half-time round-up:

Falling resource stocks steered the share market to a six-week low this morning as a global commodities rout swept through Asian markets.

At 1pm EST the ASX 200 was 84 points or 1.6% lower at 5042 after earlier falling more than 2% to 5010. The index last visited that level on September 30. While no sector was left unscathed, the heaviest blows landed on energy -3.4%, metals & mining -2.7%, materials -2.5% and gold -2.3%. Other notable falls included consumer staples -2.2%, telecoms -2.2% and financials -1.5%.

The declines came amid speculation that yesterday's unexpectedly strong October jobs report means the Reserve Bank's next move on rates will be to raise. The unemployment rate fell to 5.8% last month from 6.1% in September after the economy added 58,600 new jobs, according to the ABS.

"Growth is probably going to be closer to 3% next year and I think the next interest-rate move will be up," Stephen Koukoulas, managing director of Market Economics, told Fairfax.

Regional markets followed Wall Street and Europe lower this morning, after a rough night on commodity markets saw the Bloomberg Commodity Index at its lowest point since 1999. China's Shanghai Composite gave up 0.56%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng 1.74% and Japan's Nikkei 0.62%. Dow futures were recently up 38 points or more than 0.2%.

Crude oil futures declined 22 cents this morning to US$41.52 a barrel. Spot gold was 90 cents higher at US$1,081.90 an ounce. The dollar was buying 71.32 US cents.


Volatility is up, up, up, which should translate into intraday profit opportunities. Been a very good week - one of the best in recent times. Hope that's not a sign that the speccies are topping. Trading: took APY at the low, and  rebounds/scalps in PRY, MMS and RNT.